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There are over 6,000 languages in the world. Some are more important than others, not better or more advanced, just more important. Why? Because they are spoken by more people, in more countries. That does not mean that Finnish is not important to the Finns, and Maori is not important to the Maoris. It is just that these languages are not so important to the rest of us.

世界上有6000多種語言。其中一些比另一些更重要，但并不意味著這些語言更好或者更先進(jìn)，只是更重要。為什么呢？因?yàn)檫@些語言的使用者更多，使用范圍更廣。并不是說芬蘭語對于芬蘭人不重要，或者毛利語對于毛利人不重要。只是說這些語言對于我們其余的人來說沒有那么重要。

On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over one billion people. Chinese origin words account for 60% of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese vocabulary. Knowing Chinese will help you learn these languages too. It helped me. Chinese culture has influenced the world for thousands of years with its art, philosophy, technology, food, medicine and performing arts. Today China’s economy is booming. Chinese seems well worth learning.

另一方面，中文普通話有10億多的使用者。漢語起源的詞語占到了日語、韓語和越南語詞匯的60%之多。懂中文也將會有助于你學(xué)習(xí)這些語言。它就幫助了我。幾千年來中國文化一直在藝術(shù)、哲學(xué)、技術(shù)、飲食、醫(yī)藥和表演藝術(shù)方面影響著世界。今天中國的經(jīng)濟(jì)正在迅猛發(fā)展，中文似乎很值得去學(xué)習(xí)。

Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are essentially dialects of the same language. If you learn one, you can learn the others. I did. If you learn Spanish, you open the door to the culture, music, history and possible business dealings with 800 million people in 60 countries, including the US and Canada.

西班牙語、法語、意大利語和葡萄牙語從本質(zhì)上說是同一種語言的不同方言。如果你學(xué)會了一種，你也可以學(xué)會其他幾種。我就是這樣。如果你掌握了西班牙語，它就為你打開了一扇門，你可以接觸到和8億人相關(guān)的文化、音樂、歷史，可能還有商務(wù)，這8億人來自60個國家，其中包括美國和加拿大。

If you get ambitious you could try Russian, as I have been doing for the last two years. Once you have Russian you can probably communicate with other Slav speakers.

如果你在語言學(xué)習(xí)方面有雄心壯志，那么你可以試試俄語，過去兩年我一直在學(xué)。一旦你掌握了俄語，你應(yīng)該可以和其他的斯拉夫語言使用者交流。

But hold it here! Before getting carried away, let’s look at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey, after 12 years of daily French classes, only one high school graduate out of 147 (0.68%) achieved “intermediate” proficiency. Another survey of immigrants learning English in the US showed that “classroom instructional hours” had little impact on progress.

但是先等一等！在頭腦發(fā)熱之前，我們先來看看語言教學(xué)的現(xiàn)狀。根據(jù)加拿大的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，在上了12年日常法語課后，147所高中里只有1所高中（0.68%）的畢業(yè)生可以達(dá)到“中等”流利程度。另外一項(xiàng)在美國的移民學(xué)習(xí)英語的調(diào)查表明，“課堂教學(xué)時間”對語言的進(jìn)步作用甚微。

As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. To start with we need to dispel seven common misconceptions about language learning.

作為一個掌握了10門語言的人，我知道會說多種語言的好處。我們只是需要改變語言教學(xué)的方法。首先我們必須消除關(guān)于語言學(xué)習(xí)的7個普遍的誤解。

1. Language learning is difficult

語言學(xué)習(xí)很困難

It is only difficult to learn a language if you don’t want to. Learning a language takes time, but is not difficult. You mostly need to listen and read. Believe me, it is that simple. I have done it many times. Soon you feel the satisfaction of understanding another language. Before you know it you start speaking. It is the way languages are usually taught that makes language learning hard to like.

只有當(dāng)你不想學(xué)時，學(xué)習(xí)這門語言才會變得困難。學(xué)習(xí)一門語言需要花時間，但并不困難。你主要需要聽和讀。相信我，就這么簡單。我做過許多次。很快你就會體會到理解另一門語言的滿足感，而在你意識到這一點(diǎn)之前你就能開口說。真是課堂語言的教學(xué)方式讓人們很難愛上語言學(xué)習(xí)。

2. You have to have a gift for learning languages

你必須要有學(xué)習(xí)語言的天賦

No you don’t. Anyone who wants to, can learn. In Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. Foreign athletes in North America usually learn to speak English faster than people in more formal learning environments. In language learning it is attitude, not aptitude, that determines success.

并不是這樣的。任何想學(xué)的人都可以學(xué)會。在瑞典和荷蘭，大多數(shù)人都會不止一種語言。他們不可能都有語言天賦。在北美的外國運(yùn)動員學(xué)會說英語的速度通常比在正式語言學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境中的人要快。在語言學(xué)習(xí)中決定你成功的是態(tài)度，而不是天賦。

3. You have to live where the language is spoken

你必須生活在那種語言的使用環(huán)境中

Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than halting English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. In 1968, I learned to speak Mandarin fluently while living in Hong Kong, where few people spoke it. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer, and you can download it to your iPod and listen. Where you live is not an obstacle.

有些去北美的移民永遠(yuǎn)只會說蹩腳的英語。然而我們在別的國家卻見到有人可以說非常完美的英語。1968年，當(dāng)我在香港居住時我學(xué)會了說流利的中文普通話，而很少有香港人會說。在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的幫助下，任何人只需要一臺電腦就可以獲得許多語言內(nèi)容，你可以把它下載到你的iPod里來聽。至于你住在哪里并不會阻礙你學(xué)習(xí)語言。

4. Only children can learn to speak another language well

只有孩子可以學(xué)會說一門流利的外語

Recent brain research has demonstrated that our brains remain plastic well into old age. Adults who lose their eyesight have to learn a new language, braille, for example. Adults have a wide vocabulary in their own language and are better language learners than children. I have learned 4 languages since the age of 55. Adults only need the child’s willingness to experiment and desire to communicate, without the fear of ridicule.

最近一項(xiàng)關(guān)于大腦的研究已經(jīng)證明，我們的頭腦在進(jìn)入老年時依然可以保持較好的可塑性。比如說，那些失明的成年人必須要學(xué)習(xí)一門新的語言：布萊葉盲文。跟孩子相比，成年人具備更大的母語詞匯量，是更好的語言學(xué)習(xí)者。我從55歲開始已經(jīng)學(xué)習(xí)了4門語言。成年人只需要像孩子那樣樂于嘗試，渴望交流，不要害怕被嘲笑。

5. To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction

語言學(xué)習(xí)需要正式的課堂教學(xué)

This is the crux of the problem. Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language. The more students in the class, the more inefficient it is. Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned. Theoretical grammatical explanations are hard to understand, hard to remember, and even harder to use. Drills and exercises are annoying to most people. A majority of school kids graduate unable to communicate in languages that they study for 10 or more years.

這就是問題的癥結(jié)所在。課堂學(xué)習(xí)花費(fèi)不高，還是個結(jié)交朋友的好地方，這種學(xué)習(xí)方式有著厚重的歷史傳統(tǒng)。可是很遺憾，在教室里學(xué)習(xí)一門語言效率并不高。班上的學(xué)生越多，學(xué)習(xí)效率就越低。語言不是教出來的，而是學(xué)出來的。那些理論的語法的解釋難以理解，難以記憶，更難以運(yùn)用。練習(xí)和作業(yè)讓大多數(shù)人都很反感。大部分學(xué)校的孩子在畢業(yè)時還不能用他們已經(jīng)學(xué)了十多年的語言來交流。

6. You need to speak in order to learn (and I have nobody to speak to)

為了學(xué)語言你需要開口說（但我沒有可以交流的對象）

Speaking the language is usually the goal of language learning, but speaking can wait. Once you have acquired the language, you will find the opportunity to speak. When you are learning the language it is more important to listen. Trying to just pick up a few “handy” phrases to say is likely to just get you into trouble. If you meet a native speaker, you will inevitably spend most of your time listening unless you already know the language. You do not need to speak in order to learn, you need to learn in order to speak.

能夠說一門語言通常是語言學(xué)習(xí)的目標(biāo)，但是這個目標(biāo)可以緩一緩。一旦你掌握了某種語言，你會找到機(jī)會開口說的。當(dāng)你正在學(xué)習(xí)這門語言時，聽更加重要。嘗試說一些“脫口而出”的詞組有可能會讓你陷入困境。如果你遇到了一位說母語的人，你必然會花更多時間來聽這個人說話，除非你已經(jīng)掌握了這門語言。你沒有必要為了學(xué)習(xí)語言而開口說話，而應(yīng)該為了開口說話來學(xué)習(xí)語言。

7. I would love to learn but I don’t have the time

我很愿意學(xué)，但我沒有時間

How about the time you spend waiting in line, commuting, doing things around the house, going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPod? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour. If you believe you will achieve significant results, and if you enjoy doing it, as I do, you will find the time.

那些你用來排隊，上下班，在房前屋后忙活，散步的時間呢？為什么不利用這些時間用你的iPod練聽力呢？一旦你開始這么做，即使每天只有10或者15分鐘，也很快會增加到每天半小時或1小時。如果你相信自己可以收獲重大成效，如果你喜歡語言學(xué)習(xí)，就像我一樣，你會找到時間的。